TTIP leaks: Cameron ‘playing the public for fools’

Prime Minister David Cameron is ‘playing the public for fools’, War on Want said today.

Appearing before the House of Commons Liaison Committee on Wednesday (4 May), the Prime Minister called the threat of locked-in privatisation of the NHS under TTIP the "reddest of red herrings".

In response, Mark Dearn, War on Want’s Senior Trade Campaigner, said:

“The only slippery fish here is the Prime Minister, whose rhetoric flies in the face of two sets of legal opinion stating the NHS is in danger. As well as this, the EU’s published TTIP offer clearly shows the NHS is up for grabs.

“This week’s TTIP leaks have revealed the truth about these appalling negotiations: the British people know this is a corporate stitch up, yet the Prime Minister continues to play them for fools.

“Cameron’s call for ‘political courage’ to complete the TTIP deal is shameful; it’s basically code for snubbing the will of the people.”

More than 500,000 British people have signed a petition against TTIP and the EU-Canada deal, CETA, and 10,000 people have joined War on Want to demand that David Cameron guarantees MPs a vote on the EU-Canada deal. Under CETA, all US corporations with offices in Canada will be able to sue the UK government for policies affecting their profits.

Dearn added: “David Cameron must respect the sovereignty of parliament and ensure British MPs are given a vote on TTIP’s evil twin, CETA. The deal poses many of the same threats as TTIP and must not be forced onto the British people.”

Notes to editors

For further information and interviews, contact Ross Hemingway on +44 7983 550728 or Mark Dearn on +44 7804 289680.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (2015 Update)

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